Salmon Bites With Sticky Sweet Chili Soy Glaze

These Sweet Chili Salmon Bites pan-fried and glazed in caramelised, sweet and salty sticky sauce will quickly become your favourite salmon recipe. I make this dish on a weekly basis and the family loves it!

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Glazed Sweet Chili Salmon Bites Recipe

In this recipe, salmon bites or fillets are pan-fried until pink and flaky, then coated in a sticky, sweet chilli, soy and garlic glaze sauce.

Everyone in my family loves this salmon recipe so much that I cook it weekly.

Plus, it’s quick and easy and only needs a handful of accessible ingredients. You can have the whole meal on the table in under 20 minutes. A winning dinner in my book!

What To Serve With Glazed Salmon Bites

I have a couple of go-to dishes to serve with salmon bites.

We almost always have it with Basmati rice (or sometimes cauliflower rice) and then either a side of stir-fried green vegetables like Chinese broccoli, bok choy and broccoli OR with an Asian-style slaw salad.

You can serve sweet chilli salmon with white or brown rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa, rice noodles, any other noodles or even with a side of sweet potato.

For a stir-fry, I usually cook a bunch of cut-up veggies over medium-high heat for a few minutes and then a few splashes of soy sauce or Tamari and maybe a little lemon juice. I keep these simple because the glazed salmon packs a lot of bold flavours.

For the slaw salad, I shred red or Wombok/Napa cabbage, carrots, red bell peppers, red onion and coriander and toss through with a dressing made of lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar or honey, sesame oil and some olive oil. You can also use store-bought Asian dressing to save time.

What You Will Need

Salmon – I use about 1.1-1.2 lb or 500 grams of salmon fillets for about 4 servings. I like to buy fish fillets without skin as it works better for this particular salmon bites recipe. It’s easier to cut and flip, plus some of my family members don’t eat the skin so I don’t bother.

Having said that, I have also made this glazed sweet chilli salmon dish with long fillets rather than bite-size pieces and with the skin on. In this case, I pan-fry it on the skin side first until it’s nice and crispy.

Money-saving tip: I often buy frozen salmon fillets and defrost them for a few hours before cooking or in the fridge overnight. Salmon tails or steaks are often cheaper and will work just as well with this sticky sweet chilli sauce.

Sauces – I like to use a Thai-style sweet chili sauce like the Ayam brand and premium light soy sauce. I have made the dish with regular soy sauce but it’s a little more full-on and saltier, I prefer a more subtle taste of the light soy sauce in this recipe. Garlic is optional, sometimes I add it in and if I can’t be bothered I only use those two sauces.

Dietary Swaps – You can use sugar-free sweet chilli sauce and coconut aminos or Tamari instead of regular soy sauce.

How To Make Sweet Chili Salmon Bites

Pro-Tip: I like making this dish as salmon bites rather than long fillets because it cooks the fish faster and more evenly. You know how the salmon fillets will often have thinner ends and thicker middle, which always seems to be undercooked, so you have to throw the fillets back in the pan and then the thinner bits end up overcooked and dry. Yep, that’s annoying!

Another reason I like to cook salmon as bite-size pieces is because you get every bite coated in that delicious caramelised glaze.

Step 1. The first thing to do is to cut our salmon into square or rectangular pieces, about 1-1.5 inches long/thick. Sprinkle very lightly with salt and set aside.

Step 2. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the salmon bites and cook for 1 minute over medium-high heat. Then turn the heat down to medium-low and cover the frying pan with a lid. Cook for 3 more minutes. Using a lid speeds up the cooking time significantly!

Step 3. Remove the lid and after about 20-30 seconds, turn the salmon pieces over and cook for 1.5-2 more minutes on the other side without a lid. Thinner pieces can be taken out earlier as won’t need as much cooking.

Step 4. Remove pre-cooked salmon bites to a bowl and scrape off any stuck, browned flesh bits from the bottom of the pan. Save those bits as they are delicious and crispy.

Step 5. Now it’s time to make our caramelised salmon glaze sauce! You can use the same frying pan but I like to switch to a slightly smaller pan for this step.

Add another tablespoon of oil and place over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring a few times, until it starts to get golden brown.

Step 6. Now add 1/3 cup of sweet chili sauce and 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce.

Stir through and increase the heat to high. Cook for 1 minute and about 20-30 seconds, stirring frequently until the sauce starts to bubble and thicken.

Step 7. Once it looks caramelised and semi-sticky, return the salmon pieces and stir through the sauce. Leave in the pan over heat for about 30 seconds to bubble away gently. Remove from heat and sprinkle with green onions to finish the dish.

Tips For Making Side Dishes

I like to cook the rice a little bit ahead of time and have my vegetables pre-cut so I can stir-fry them while the salmon is cooking.

If I make a salad, I also do it either a little ahead of salmon or while it’s cooking. In general, I like to cook in parallell but it can be stressful for some so you can prepare the sides earlier.

Nutrition Notes

For me, salmon is the perfect superfood! It’s high in protein and healthy fats, especially Omega-3s, plenty of minerals and fat-soluble vitamins, and it’s delicious.

Per serving: 307 calories, 28.4 grams of protein, 20.6 g of carbohydrates, and 13.1 g of fat.

Per serving with 2/3 cup of cooked white rice: 489 calories, 31.7 g protein, 60.5 grams carbohydrates and 13.4 grams fat.

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Full Recipe & Ingredients

Find the full list of ingredients, instructions and extra cooking notes below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.

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